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IGNATIUS THE MARTYR. 35
dation. Tralles, being more distant, was not so largely represented ;
but her bishop Polybius came, and he was in himself a host {Trail,
Of the members of the Smyrnnean Church, with whom he came in
contact during his sojourn there, the martyr mentions several by name.
First and foremost is the bishop Polycarp —a prominent figure alike in
the history of the early Church and in the career of Ignatius. What
strength and comfort he drew from this companionship may be gathered
from his own notices {Ephes. 21, Magn. 15, Smyrn. 12, Polyc. i, 7, 8).'
Next in order of prominence comes '
Alee, beloved name to me
— {Smyrn. 13, Polyc. 8) Alee herself a devout servant of Christ, but
sister of Nicetes and aunt of HerodeS, who are destined half a century
later to take an active part in the martyrdom of the bishop Polycarp
himself (J/^r/. Polyc. 8, 17). He mentions byname likewise Eutecnus,
Attalus his 'beloved,' and Daphnus 'the incomparable,' besides the
wife (or widow) of Epitropus with her whole household and those of her
children, and (if
this be not the same person)
'
i).
the household of Gavia '
also (see Smyrn. 13, Polyc. 8, with the notes).
While sojourning at Smyrna, he wrote four letters which are extant.
Three of these are addressed to the three churches whose delegates
he had met at Smyrna — the Ephesians, the MagnesiaJis, and
the Trallians. The fourth is written to the community among whom
he hopes to find his final resting place — to the Church of the Potnans.
Beyond occasional references to personal matters the first three are
occupied almost wholly in enforcing lessons of doctrinal truth and ecclesiastical
order. The last stands apart from these, and indeed from all
the other letters of Ignatius. It deals neither with doctrine nor with
order, but is
occupied almost entirely with the thought of his approaching
martyrdom. He was no longer writing to the Churches of Asia
Minor, with whose dissensions or whose heresies he had been brought
into more or less direct personal contact. The one topic which he had
in common with the Romans was the closing scene of his life's drama,
which was soon to be enacted in their great amphitheatre. The letter
to the Romans is the only one which bears a date. It was written on
the 24th of August. It appears from the closing sentences that he was
preceded on his journey to Rome by certain friends, to whom he sends
a message ;
so that the Romans would be fully apprised of his circumstances.
Meanwhile he was treated with rigour by his guards, whom he com-
to 'ten leopards' {Pom. 5). His conflict with these human
monsters was an anticipation of his approaching struggle in the amphitheatre.
From the moment when he left the Syrian shore— by land and
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